10 year internship scheme anniversary (VI): On speech writing

Our guest blogger today is Daria Catalui, a passionate volunteer and founder of Danube, EDU youth regional NGO. Currently she is working in digital education for EU’s cybersecurity agency ENISA.

I was an intern long time ago when studying in Bucharest.  From the first moment when I entered the embassy for the interview to the end of my internship I had an attitude of permanent excitement. After all, I was going to work in the center, reading every day the best journals worldwide, working in Raluca’s office!, talking daily with so many great professionals. Under these conditions of course I was among the first in the office and one of the last to leave.

I remember my internship period as if it was yesterday:

That February I had exams and did well with the support of the communication team which reminded me all the time. Roxana: did you have time yesterday to look on your manual? Raluca: ..and what kind of subjects you think you will get?

Raluca challenged me to write a speech for the ambassador, my first ever real speech that was not for a school assignment. It was great to have that trial experience.  My lunch with the ambassador was one of those OMG moments. To tell you the truth I was really excited. We went to eat Chinese, and the conversation went on with geopolitics topics.

The end was not without surprise. I got a recommendation letter from the ambassador and team. Even today I keep it dearly since it is one of the few letters that expresses in much detail my work and personality.

One last mention of the British parties at the residence. Great job team, I always had a lot of fun like everybody else e.g. getting dressed in my cyclist suit once, participating in karaoke night another time, always in a good atmosphere and great food.

To sum up the internship helped me a lot to raise the standard and understand the richness of the  international work environment. It was invaluable for me, and I strongly recommend it to young peers.

Recently I had the chance to meet the team at the embassy in Athens, and guess what: we talked about the people that we know from the Bucharest team. It was such a pleasure to remember all and revive connections in an unexpected way. We all say HELLO to the team in Bucharest!

Cheers,

Daria